Lubricant



Patented Feb. 18, 1941 UNITED STATES wmucanr Laszlo Auer, Bloomfield, N. 1.. assignor, by mesne assignments, to Gulf Oil Corporation, Pitts-- burgh, Pa-, a corporation of Pennsylvania No Drawing.

Original application April 21, 1930,

Serial No. 446,172, now Patent No. 2,213,943,

dated September 10,1940.

Divided and this application July 12, 1939, Serial No. 284,101. In

Hungary May 19, 1926 This invention relates to a process for the 'modification of the physical properties (viscosity, .melting point, etc.) 1 of colloidal substances, and

more specially to a process for the modification 6 of the physical properties of organic isocolloids whereby improved products useful as lubricants may be obtained. By isocollolds or isocolloidal substances" is meant colloidal substances whereof the dispersed phase and the dispersion 0 medium of the colloidal system are both of the same chemical composition but in a different state.

Starting materials suitable for the treatment according to the present invention are, inter alia, fatty oils, tung oil, linseed oil, fish oil's, train oils, poppyseed oil, sunflower oil, cottonseed oil, rape-seed oil, soya bean oil, pineseed oil, corn oil, olive oil, castor oil, resins, synthetic resins containing natural resins, products containing the acids of fatty oils and resins, their derivatives, mineral cylinder oil, heavy mineral oils containing naphthenic acids, goudron (petroleum distillation residue) certain mineral oil products, animal and'vegetable waxes, also chemi-- cally pure isocolloid bodies, such for instance as styrene, etc.

In my prior application Serial No. 143,786, filed Oct. 23, 1926, I disclosed that the physical properties of natural and artificial isocolloids 'containing unsaturated carbon compounds may be modified by treating them with certain agents, namely electrolytes or polar compounds. As described in said application, Serial No. 143,786, the organic isocolloid and the electrolyte (polar compound) may be mixed cold or heated toether to obtain the desired modification of the isocolloid material. In my prior copending application Serial No. 359,425, filed April 30, 1929, I described further examples of organic polar compounds useful in my processes. Said application Serial No. 359,425 discloses inter alia, modification of isocolloids by incorporating therein relatively small quantities of certain aromatic (i. e. aryl) sulphonyl chlorides, such as p-toluene sulphonyl chloride and benzene sulphonyl chloride.

In my prior copending application Ser. No. 446,172, filed April 21, 1930, issued as Patent No. 2,213,943, September 10, 1940, of which this application is a division, I disclosed the fact that I have discovered that greatly modified isocolloids (modified in accordance with the disclosures of, my prior applications Serial Nos.'143,786 and 359,425) may themselves be used as modifying agentsiforthe same or other isocolloidal materials, and have the advantage of producing modified products with a lighter color than is .point of view,

446,172 I claim certain improved lubricants produced by the two-step methods described, therein wherein aromatic sulfonlc acids, are used as.

prising a major amount of a mineral oil and arelatively small amount of 2:5 dichlorbenzene sulfonic acid.

Included within the starting materials referred to in my prior application's Serial Nos. 359,425 and 446,172 are various fatty oils and mineral oils, as listed above. Included among the various initial modifying agents listed in those applications are naphthalene sulphonyl chloride, para toluene sulphonyl chloride and benzene sulphonylchloride.

The present divisional application relates in particular to the modification of refined mineral oils for lubricating purposes, with such aryl sulphonyl chlorides. Thus, as disclosed in Serial No. 446,172, I have carried out experiments to produce a new type of dispersed phase in those organic isocolloidal systems in which the tend- ,ency (capacity) for an increase in the dispersed phase concentration is very small, especially for example in refined mineral oils which do not contain naphthenic acids. I have found that modified fatty oil products (modified -by incorporation therein of an aryl sulphonyl chloride, as aforesaid), when dissolved in small percentages in mineral oils are able to increase their viscosity. 'If the solidified, modified oil products are hard enough, or when the percentage dissolved in mineral oil is slightly increased, it is possible to produce pasty,'jelly-like materials which can be used as lubricating greases. Obviously, with lesser amounts of the solidified, modified oil products, the resultant solutions inmineral oil are inherently less viscous, the final increase in viscosity being naturally dependent upon the amount of the modified oil products present.

Suchmodiflcation of lubricating oils (as, for instance, by increasing the viscosity thereof) has considerable importance in industry. In the case of lubricants, it is very important that the lubricating oil should not emulsify readily with water and thus be washed out from engines exposed to weather. I have found that solidified oils which contain modifying agents insoluble in water are especially advantageous for use as thickening agents for mineral oils, as the lubricants so obtained do not show any emulsifying capacity with water.

A further important point regarding lubricants is the requirement that they should be ash free, as the ash content has been found to damage the metal parts to be lubricated. From this metal-free organic modifying agents such as aromatic sulphonyl'chlorides are advantageously used in modifying the fatty oils or resins to he ,used in connection with mineral oils.

It has been further found that the presence of saponifiable matter in a lubricating oil is also disadvantageous to a certain extent, for in contact with alkali there is a tendency to form soaps which tend (by @the action of water) to form emulsions. I have found that amongst the organic reagents disclosed inmy prior applications referred to, aromatic sulphonyl chlorides, such as naphthalene sulphonyl chloride, toluene sulphonyl chloride, and benzene sulphonyl chloride, are reagents which produce unsaponiflable products equally from fatty oils and from resins. Such products can therefore be used with great advantage as thickening agents for lubricating purposes in mineral oils.

As disclosed in my prior copending applications referred to, the incorporation of the aryl sulphonyl chloride in .the organic isocolloid, such as the fatty oils, may be variously effected, the use of elevated temperatures being advisable wherever this facilitates solution or dispersion. The amount of the initial modifying agent used is normally from 2 to 10 per cent by weight of the isocolloid starting material, but may be as high as 30 per cent, the degree of modification of the intermediate product being increased as more of the initial modifying agent is employed.

The modified fatty oil product thus obtained results. The heat treatment promotes the complete (molecular or colloid-a1) dissolution of the initial modifying agent in the substances to. be treated. In some cases it may be advisable to continue the heat treatment after the dissolution or dispersion of the modifying agent is substantially comple'te.-

The modification of the initial isocolloid starting material is also affected by pressure, reduction of pressure tend-ing tointensify the action of the modifying agent. The tendency toward formation of more viscous products is, however, less when plus pressures are used.

Air or other gas may be passed through the reaction mixture during the treatment. Ordinarily, the treatment of the initial iso colloid material, such as a fatty oil, with the as linseed oil, may be modified with the aid of a relatively small quantity of benzene sulphonyl chloride and the resultant modified material incorporated in a relatively large amount of reilned of lubricating greases mineral oil, the final products varying from viscous liquids to jelly-like materials of the nature I in accordance with the proportions employed.

What I claim is: 6 1. An improved lubricant composition comprising a major amount of a mineral oil and a minor amount of an aryl sulphonyl chloride incorporated therein.

'2. As an improved mineral oil lubricant, a lubricating composition comprising a major amount of-mineral oil and minor amounts of an aryl sulphonyl chloride and of fatty oil blended therewith.

'3. The composition of claim 2 wherein said 16 fatty oil is a bodied oil.

4. The composition of claim 2 wherein the said fatty oil is a blown rape-seed oil.

5. The composition of claim 2 wherein the said fatty oil is linseed oil. 6. As a composition of matter useful as a lubricant, a uniform composition comprising a major amount of a mineral oil'and'a minor amount of an aryl sulphonyl chloride dissolved therein.

7. The composition of claim 6 wherein said g5 aryl sulphonyl chloride is benzene sulphonyl chloride.

8. The composition of claim 6 wherein said aryl sulphonyl chloride is p-toluene sulphonyl chloride.

9. The composition of claim 6 wherein said sulphonyl chloride is naphthalene sulphonyl chloride.

l0. In the manufacture of improved lubricants,

the process which comprises incorporating an aryl sulphonyl chloride in a fatty oil, and blending .9, minor amount of' the thereby modified product with a major amount of a mineral oil.

'11, A lubricating grease comprising a major amount of a refined mineral oil, and minor 0 amounts of a fatty oil and an aryl sulphonyl chloride.

J12. As a new product, a compounded lubricant useful in'lubricating metals, said lubricant comprising a major amountof a mineral oil and a relatively small amount of benzene sulphonyl chloride, the amount thereof not exceeding 30 per cent of the mineral oil.

1'3. In the manufacture of improved compound mineral oils useful as a. lubricant for metals, the #0 improved process which comprises dispersing benzene sulphonyl chloride in an oil and then blending that mixture with a relatively large amount of mineral oil to obtain said compounded lubricant containing a minor amount of benzene m;

sulphonyl chloride dispersed therein.

14. -In the manufacture of compound mineral oils useful as lubricants, the improved process which comprises first heat bodying a fatty oil in the presence of 2 to 30 per cent of an aryl sulw phonyl chloride to produce a thickened, nonoxidized heat-bodied fatty 011 containing the aryl sulphonyl chloride dissolved therein and then dispersing a minor amountof said heat-bodied oil containing the aryl sulphonyl chloride'dissolved therein in a mineral oil to produce said compound lubricant.

'15. As a new product, a compounded mineral oil useful as a lubricant for metals comprising a 7 liquid mineral oil and a thickened, nonoxidized o heat-bodied fatty oil dispersed therein, said heat-bodied fatty'oil containing an aryl sulphonyl chloride dissolved therein.

. LASZLO AUER. 

